How To

Building a Social Media Snowman

Building a Social Media Snowman

OK, so up in the Pacific Northwest it is that time of year. The time when you may just wake up and realize your car has been buried in snow. There are really two reactions people have to the snow, “This sucks, I have to shovel snow”, or “Yeah, let’s build a snowman”. Social media seems to generate the same type of reaction. Either people look at social media and say, “This sucks, we have to figure out how to use social media”, or they say, “Yeah, let’s build a social media snowman!” If you aren’t grumbling about social media while you look for your snow shovel, then I may have some tips to help you build a successful social media snowman… Follow me [No really, follow me on every social media platform :)]

Step 1: Creating Snowballs – They say every snowflake is unique, well so are people and you are going to need to gather at least a small amount of them if you plan on being a success in social media. My suggestion is start small. The first group of snow (followers) you get becomes the catalyst to rolling that group into a huge snowball (following). So create your account and think about who you want to select first. When making a snowball the first collection of snow or snowball is used to gather other snow to make your snowball bigger. So it matters who you follow first. You want to follow people who will connect you to other people, this makes your snowball get larger. There are many tools you can use to find influencers: Klout, PeerIndex, Twellow, Tweepi, and Google. I will write additional posts on how I use some of these tools to find the right people to connect with to grow a network.

Step 2: Stack Them – No sooner than you get one huge snowball done, you then have to create another one to connect to it. This means you need find another platform to grow a following. You can’t build only one snowball, and you shouldn’t focus on only one social platform. People migrate and platforms come and go. You do however, need to focus on each platform until you get a large enough snowball (group of followers), but then it is time to grow another following on another platform. They will stack on top of each other and support each other to give your presence online a body. Cross promoting from one platform to another strengthens you influence and overall presence. Your effort doesn’t have to be the same on all three platforms, but each will support the others if you build it right.

Step 3: Add the Face – Eyes, nose, and mouth. Eyes means you: observe, read posts, see who is doing what and the response they are getting. By observing more people and following more influencers you will start to see what works. Nose, this is the focal point of the face or identity. You need to have something prominent that sticks out about you online. This can be a cause you love, a topic or area of expertise, or something that differentiates you. Finally is the mouth, this is your content, what you are putting out there through these platforms. When you combine the eyes, nose, and mouth, you create your online persona.

Social media can be as fun as playing in the snow. It takes time, a rough plan, and a few important details, but the end result may just make other people notice you. See, social media isn’t about you, anymore than a snowman could be made from one snowflake. The fact is that what you are trying to do is build something that is made up of many other people. My social media presence isn’t just about me, but it is about who I am connected with and who they are connected with. My online presence is a body of people from various platforms and I get to be the eyes, nose, and mouth. The more you realize the importance of every snowflake and the great honor and responsibility that comes with being the face, the better you will be at being the head of your social media snowman. Now get your gloves on and go build.

For a little snowman fun, check out this video:

Is the sun melting your efforts? Are you too cold to make snowballs? Contact us, we can help you get on the right track or build and manage your snowman. 509-362-1966

About the Author

Ross Quintana

Founder of SocialMagnets, I am passionate about social media, influence, innovation, strategy, and marketing. I love to help people learn and understand the digital world. I stretch people's thinking and share my analysis of information, tools, and strategies in social media. Let's connect

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About SocialMagnets

SocialMagnets brings together the People, Tools, and Strategies that create attraction on the internet. Just as influencers and tools attract audiences, they also end up connecting with other influencers. This is the concept of the two magnets that form our logo. When we work together we can increase our social magnetism. Enjoy our site…